David Guggenheim’s latest documentary, Waiting for Superman, has drawn controversy galore. It’s playing locally at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline. Below are some good reviews:
From the AFT:
“It’s hard not to be moved by Waiting for ‘Superman. It’s an emotional film about families seeking good schools for their children. But good storytelling is no substitute for an honest and accurate look at how we can really improve our public schools so they offer all children access to a great education.”
“The film’s central themes – that all public school teachers are bad, that all charter schools are good and that teachers’ unions are to blame for failing schools – are incomplete and inaccurate, and they do a disservice to the millions of good teachers in our schools who work their hearts out every day. The film relies on a few highly sensational and isolated examples in an attempt to paint all public school teachers as bad. Had the filmmaker visited some good public schools, he would have found that no good teacher supports tolerating bad teachers who are failing in the classroom.”
“But Waiting for ‘Superman doesn’t show many of the great public schools (the AFT named two in the BPS, the Edwards and the Fenway) across the country where AFT members work. And it makes no mention of many productive labor-management efforts that have turned the collective bargaining process into a powerful tool to improve schools. And it ignores the work of local unions across the nation, supported by the AFT Innovation Fund, to take the lead in improving teaching and learning…”
For an analysis of the film. see a piece in the Christian Science Monitor: “A Simplistic View of Education Reform,” and an op-ed piece in the NY Times by Gail Collins:
“…the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program has turned out to be a terrific engine for forcing politicians and unions and education experts to create better ways to get rid of inept or lazy teachers. But there’s no evidence that teachers’ unions are holding our schools back. Finland, which is currently cleaning our clock in education scores, has teachers who are almost totally unionized. The states with the best student performance on standardized tests tend to be the ones with the strongest teachers’ unions.”
If you have seen the movie, post your comments on the BTU Facebook page. Or visit “Not Waiting for Superman” on Facebook.